US sales of GM, Toyota stand out as others falter in August

After record 2016 sales and falling fuel prices, automakers have struggled to maintain momentum this year.Washington: General Motors and Toyota saw rising new car sales in August, riding continued strong demand for SUVs and light trucks, while other automakers sagged at summer's end, according to industry figures released Friday.

Automakers were expected to act aggressively to boost sales in the US Gulf Coast region, as it recovers from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.

"Toyota simply beat the snot out of its competitors in August with the compact RAV4 sport utility selling a dazzling 43,000 units," Autotrader executive analyst Michelle Krebs said in comments released by Cox Automotive.

The company also boasted of rising sales for its all-electric Chevy Bolt EV hatchback, which GM said had its "strongest sales ever" in the month. Deliveries remained comparatively low, however, at 2,052 cars.

Italian-American auto giant Fiat Chrysler reported an 11 percent decline in US sales, led by falling fleet sales, part of what the company called a planned reduction in volume.

However, the company highlighted strong sales of Jeep and Dodge brands, with the Jeep Grand Cherokee having its best August since 2000.

"At Jeep, the growth in Compass, Renegade, and Grand Cherokee came at the expense of the Cherokee, which was down 50 percent year-over-year," said Rebecca Lindland, executive analyst at Kelley Blue Book.

Jeep is down 15 percent so far in 2017, she added. Ford saw a 15 percent jump in sales of its F-Series pickups, but this was not enough to offset an 11.3 percent slump in SUVs and an 8.6 percent drop in cars.